copuler

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cōpulāre. Doublet of the inherited coupler. See also copule and couple.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.py.le/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Verb

copuler

1. to copulate (produce offspring)

Conjugation

Conjugation of copuler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	copuler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	copulant /kɔ.py.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		copulé /kɔ.py.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	copule /kɔ.pyl/	copules /kɔ.pyl/	copule /kɔ.pyl/	copulons /kɔ.py.lɔ̃/	copulez /kɔ.py.le/	copulent /kɔ.pyl/
	imperfect	copulais /kɔ.py.lɛ/	copulais /kɔ.py.lɛ/	copulait /kɔ.py.lɛ/	copulions /kɔ.py.ljɔ̃/	copuliez /kɔ.py.lje/	copulaient /kɔ.py.lɛ/
	past historic2	copulai /kɔ.py.le/	copulas /kɔ.py.la/	copula /kɔ.py.la/	copulâmes /kɔ.py.lam/	copulâtes /kɔ.py.lat/	copulèrent /kɔ.py.lɛʁ/
	future	copulerai /kɔ.pyl.ʁe/	copuleras /kɔ.pyl.ʁa/	copulera /kɔ.pyl.ʁa/	copulerons /kɔ.pyl.ʁɔ̃/	copulerez /kɔ.pyl.ʁe/	copuleront /kɔ.pyl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	copulerais /kɔ.pyl.ʁɛ/	copulerais /kɔ.pyl.ʁɛ/	copulerait /kɔ.pyl.ʁɛ/	copulerions /kɔ.py.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	copuleriez /kɔ.py.lə.ʁje/	copuleraient /kɔ.pyl.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	copule /kɔ.pyl/	copules /kɔ.pyl/	copule /kɔ.pyl/	copulions /kɔ.py.ljɔ̃/	copuliez /kɔ.py.lje/	copulent /kɔ.pyl/
	imperfect2	copulasse /kɔ.py.las/	copulasses /kɔ.py.las/	copulât /kɔ.py.la/	copulassions /kɔ.py.la.sjɔ̃/	copulassiez /kɔ.py.la.sje/	copulassent /kɔ.py.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	copule /kɔ.pyl/	—	copulons /kɔ.py.lɔ̃/	copulez /kɔ.py.le/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Related terms

• copulateur
• copulatif
• copulation

Further reading

• “copuler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Verb

cōpuler

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of cōpulō